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Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

googledevelopers.blogspot.com

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Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#171

Post by notatoad »

Pxtl wrote: post #43

Chromecast is missing one thing, imho: a controller for my kids. I'm not giving my kids the Nexus 7 every time they want to watch something on the TV screen. The Chromecast suddenly goes from a $35 to a $235 device. Instead I have a uHost android-stick that uses an accelerometer-based airmouse... it's not good, but it works and cost me $50. I keep waiting for Google to complete the Nexus line with a bare-bones 4" low…

Grab a roku instead. If i'm on my nexus 7 i can cast to the roku using plex, netflix, or youtube (and probably others, but i'm in canada so my streaming service selection is a little limited). It's the exact same experience as using my roommate's chromecast. And Roku has a standalone remote that can be used instead of a smartphone/tablet/computer.

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#172

Post by lotyrin »

furyofantares wrote: post #165
mbreese wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've obviously never given a toddler a cellphone to play a video. They'll find a way to do it, so you have to watch them like a hawk. For older kids, this is less of a problem. On the other hand, they can use the AppleTV remote quite easily without much worry. So, the lack of a viable (dedicated) remote for the Chromecast is an issue for some. For us, I have an AppleTV in the living room that the kids can use, but…

> They'll find a way to do it, so you have to watch them like a hawk. I'm curious why this wasn't really a problem when we had landlines in our houses. Is it just because these devices are a lot more fun to play with than phones were and the kid eventually dials 911 accidentally?

No, it's because there's usually an emergency call button of some kind (so the towers can route your call based on location, iirc), you're not actually entering the sequence "911". No touchtone phone I've seen has a big red "911" autodial button.

Also, the devices are used for entertainment, even if you did give a toddler a touchtone phone as a toy, you'd disconnect it from the line.

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#173

Post by notatoad »

xur17 wrote: post #20

Anyone that has looked into the SDK - is it possible for other manufacturers to create their own Chromecast device, and embed it in their TV, or other device?

You can (and many tv and STB manufacturers already have) implement the DIAL protocol[1] to make your device show up in the list of targets to cast to.

[1] http://www.dial-multiscreen.org/

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#174

Post by oaktowner »

Johnie wrote: post #161
sciurus wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're saying that the chromecast (created by google) works well with android (created by google) and chrome (created by google)? And you love this, because it's so much better than Miracast where Samsung only works with Samsung, Sony only works with Sony, etc? I agree it's a shame that a standard like Miracast has incompatible implementations. However, creating another protocol just makes that situation even wors…

Netflix on iOS works well with the Chromecast.

Johnle - Indeed. It works better with Chromecast than Netflix on Android in my experience!

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#175

Post by shitlord »

Excellent news. I own a Chromecast, but I feel that it's overly hyped.

There isn't a lot of content that I would want on my TV. For me, it would be good for showing videos/pictures to a group of people. But I don't see much use beyond that. Maybe it's me. I'm an odd guy.

It would be really cool if Android could add support for mirroring the screen via Chromecast. That way, the end users wouldn't have to wait for individual developers to add support for Chromecast; they could see on a TV exactly what they see on their screen, and in the same quality.

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#176

Post by CSDude »

jack57 wrote: post #156
CSDude wrote: post #12

I made my local video transcoder server and browser to play any kind of video on the Chromecast, it was working real good, now I can publish it (was not allowed before)

I think a lot of people would find this very useful. Could you post the link on this thread along with submitting it on HN?

There have been some changes on the API, I need to look onto it.

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#177

Post by ajross »

1010011010 wrote: post #49
Osiris wrote: post #40

How does the Chromecast work for someone like me that has their movie collection stored on a NAS? I currently use XBMC in my living room, but for the bedroom I'd love to have something like the Chromecast if I could use it to stream content (MKV, x264) from my NAS plus maybe some Netflix/Pandora. Is that possible with the Chromecast? If not, does this SDK open up more possibilities for playing local content vs. strea…

Plex Media Center.

I grabbed an app called "Avia" which will do streaming of local-to-the-device content. Chromecast support is a $3 in-app (i.e. per-device, not per-account) purchase once you download the app, which is itself free.

It works. Note that the chromecast has very limited codec/container support, so lots of my library has to be transcoded.

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#178

Post by ajtaylor »

mkuhn wrote: post #94

Plex ( https://plex.tv/ ) was the magic bullet that unlocked the potential of my Chromecast. I can only recommend it and am looking forward what other applications that come out now ill make it even more useful.

Plex is so awesome, I can't properly describe it. I've subscribed to the PlexPass simply to show my appreciation to the developers. For me, it's Plex + a Roku 3 though.

Re: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

#180

Post by lsaferite »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #152
eclipxe wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who works day-in and day-out with Miracast devices, you're a little bit off. The problem isn't really with features and DRM leading to incompatibility. The HDCP portion of Miracast is pretty straightforward and isn't often the problem. The problem (as seen with the charts) is manufacturers that are sorta-kinda-using Miracast but not really. For example the Samsung AllShare devices were never advertised as…

> Give the standard 2014, 2015 and let's see where we are. People said exactly the same thing about Miracast in 2013 and 2012. We still aren't anywhere with it. It is more broken than it is working, it is a giant mess. > The Chromecast comparison is really a bad one - yes you can tabcast You can fullscreen cast. > but really it is designed around a "send this URL to play" experience which is much much easier to accom…

> "only have a single sink device"

I'm sure the OP was referring to source (sender) and sink (receiver) devices. And more specifically that the only current sink device is the Chromecast dongle.

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